Fisheries' Dept Sets Sights On Sustainable Growth
By Achong Tanjong

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Fisheries industry is one of the potential sectors that contribute towards diversifying the country's economy.

It is estimated that the industry will achieve a value of B$122 million by the end of this year, compared to last year's value of B$95.45 million, thereby indicating an annual production growth average of 28 per cent since 2001.

This was highlighted by the Acting Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Dato Paduka Hj Hamdilah bin Hj Abd Wahab at the official launch of the Fisheries Carnival 2005 held at the Fish Landing Complex in Serasa, Muara yesterday.

Dato Hamdilah in his speech urged the Fisheries Department to give great attention towards the sustainability achievement, adding that it is one of the big responsibilities and challenges to the Department to defend its growth annually.

"These include capture fisheries value resources that have been implemented on a sustainable basis with an estimated value of B$112 million annually at the Brunei waters' exclusive economic zone," said the Acting Minister.

"From 200 nautical miles offshore, that covers a wide area of about 36,000 square kilometers."

"In an effort to ensure that the country's fisheries resources can be enjoyed by future generations, it has become the Fisheries Department's policy to ensure the sustainable growth of fisheries capture activities in the country," he added.

Dato Hamdilah also said the Department has implemented the monitoring on the capture fisheries activities. However, he added, the biggest and wide areas of the Brunei waters are not easy tasks to be monitored only by one agency.

He said, based on the Fisheries department data, since 1992, a total of 559 foreign fishing ships had entered into the Brunei- water illegally.

The total loss from the illegal activity he said had been estimated at more than B$70 million. He also stressed that the figures might increase given the possibility that a number of foreign fishing ship had entered undetected. In this view, he said serious attention should be given to deal with the problem.

Meanwhile the Acting Minister also touched on the investment opportunities in the Fisheries Industry, which he understood offers a lot of opportunities that have not been fully exploited. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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